Rights group urges UN not to bow to 'political pressure' for deferral

The United Nations Security Council "must not give in to political pressure" to approve a deferral of the Kenyan ICC cases, Amnesty International declared Wednesday.

An African-supported resolution calling for deferral appears unlikely to win the nine votes needed for approval in an expected vote by the council on Friday.

But an Amnesty International officer cautioned in an interview on Wednesday that "we might be surprised because these are political issues".

'WAITED TOO LONG FOR JUSTICE'

Tawanda Hondora, the human rights group's deputy director of law and policy, added that the council should reject the Africa-supported resolution because "the victims of the 2007-2008 violence have waited too long for justice".

The current effort to win a one-year deferral is "mainly intended to provide cover for senior politicians" in Kenya, Mr Hondora said.

Granting a postponement of the proceedings would be "an inappropriate use of the council's power".

But it is appropriate, he said, for Kenya and Botswana to offer proposals next week at a meeting of ICC treaty signatories that would allow defendants to be absent from The Hague for portions of their trials.

Mr Hondora noted that such an amendment to the ICC rules would be consistent with a recent appeals decision in the case of Deputy President William Ruto.